Brilliant move or act of political cowardice?

Published 4:00 am, Friday, April 11, 2008

Photo: Kim Komenich, The Chronicle

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San Francisco Polic Chief Heather Fong, left, and Mayor Gavin Newsom explain their decisions regarding the Olympic Torch Relay at a press conference at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Photo by Kim Komenich / San Francisco Chronicle less

San Francisco Polic Chief Heather Fong, left, and Mayor Gavin Newsom explain their decisions regarding the Olympic Torch Relay at a press conference at San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday, April 9, ... more

Photo: Kim Komenich, The Chronicle

Brilliant move or act of political cowardice?

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Editor - I stood on the Embarcadero just north of the Ferry Building Wednesday, in my "Save Darfur" T-shirt, as part of an exuberant, raucous 10-ring First Amendment circus.

Flags, banners, placards, chanting, bullhorns - some espousing causes I'd never heard of. What I saw around me was peaceful and lawful, but not orderly. As 1 p.m. approached, the police cleared the street of the crowds, but people were pressing in on the roadway, and there weren't enough officers to keep them back. Scuffles near the ballpark had already happened. I said to my friends that if the city were smart, they would put the torch and runners on a bus, and take them to a different part of town for the run. That is what happened.

No one was denied the right to protest. Our free-speech rights were respected and we all had our say. There is no constitutional right to see the Olympic torch pass by. San Francisco did the right thing.

ELI TAUB

Los Altos

Assault on free speech

Editor - Mayor Gavin Newsom and Police Chief Heather Fong's comments about why they secretly moved the torch route are an embarrassment to anyone who treasures free speech. The athletes, through no fault of their own, ended up looking like thieves escaping the city.

Go for the gold

The American way

Editor - At first, I thought city officials represented our country shamefully with their decision to sneak the Olympic torch through town rather than confront the reality of Wednesday's protests.

But then I realized something: They made a choice that was cowardly, unpopular and almost paranoid -in order to avoid lawsuits and bad publicity. And after all, what's more American than that?

BRAD KVEDERIS

Moraga

Look, kids ...

Editor - Many parents are angry that they took their children out of school to see the Olympic torch and instead the children saw nothing. I argue, however, that the children learned an important civics lesson. They had a chance to see firsthand just how low government officials will stoop to deceive the people they claim to represent.

BILL HORTON

San Francisco

Response to Nevius

Editor - I was put off by the biased observations in C.W. Nevius' Thursday column, in which he berated the Chinese crowd," bused in by the Chinese government, for trying to "take over" the event.

Nevius neglected to mention, or failed to see, that there were thousands of independent Chinese and Chinese Americans who came of their own volition to witness a once-in-a-lifetime event that has a connection to their motherland. He failed to report that there were many Tibetans who were also "bused in" from other parts of the country (some as far as Utah) for their own cause.

Seeing what had happened in Paris and London, and who physically blocked the original torch routes in San Francisco, tell me: Just who is trying to take over the event? How can Nevius be so blind and so one-sided in his reporting? I was there. There were shouts and provocation from both sides (pictures from The Chronicle prove that), but there were also peaceful and restrained dialogue on many corners.

I am not for many of the policies of the Chinese government, but fair reporting demands presenting a truer picture than Nevius' account.

ZION LEE

Albany

Shame on them

Editor - In addition to the protesters, thousands of us who waited patiently to see the Olympic torch were disappointed at Wednesday's fiasco. Ultimately the inability of the mayor's office and chief of police to successfully plan and execute an event of international significance, at the time and place advertised, represents a severe failure of leadership.

In the face of this leadership failure the event should have been canceled.

Sneaking the torch out the back door might have saved face for a repressive Chinese regime, but was a breach of the public trust to the protesters who were guaranteed free speech rights, and a disappointment to those of us who waited for hours to see the torch.

The mayor and the chief of police both deserve censure for their inability to execute.

Editor - Regarding the March 28 article, "A new logging tactic," by Jane Kay: For several years now, the Bohemian Club has engaged in a public process to secure a sensible and responsible timber management plan at the Bohemian Grove near Monte Rio.

Contrary to the overheated rhetoric employed by certain groups and a former member of the club, this timber management plan is designed solely to safeguard human life and property. We have worked closely with state and federal agencies to develop a sustainable plan that meets these objectives. Our forest is overcrowded and there are some 25,000 dead and highly flammable trees located at the Bohemian Grove. Without a sensible forest management plan, the risk of a catastrophic wildfire will increase with every year of delay. We have consulted with a number of experts including professional foresters, leading experts in the field of forest management, as well as fire captains from Sonoma County, who concur that the current state of our forest poses a severe fire danger. They agree that implementation of the plan will contribute significantly to the maintenance and enhancement of a forest that is both bio-diverse and fire resistant.

It is hard to fathom the logic of self-styled conservationists who somehow see a negative in the club granting the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation a conservation easement to protect, in perpetuity, 160 acres of the largest and most majestic trees on our property. This easement is about protecting old-growth redwood trees - pure and simple. Granting conservation easements is a common means of providing such protection, and it is strongly advocated by leading environmental groups. We are mystified how any truly conservation-minded person would object to such protection.

Contrary to the tenor of the article, no public process, environmental review or mitigation is being avoided in the preparation of this plan.

Simply put, the intent of our plan is to prevent a major forest fire such as the 2007 Angora fire in Lake Tahoe and, closer to home, the 1978 Creighton Ridge fire in western Sonoma County that burned approximately 9,000 acres of forest- including redwood trees.

As Sonoma County landowners, we take the issue of fire safety seriously-not only for the benefit of our members and employees, but for the protection of our neighbors' property and lives as well.